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(No Model.)

H. P. BENTB. CIGAR BOX.

No. 570,534. Patented Nov. 3, 1896..

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY F. BENTE, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR TO THE WM. A. STIOKNEY CIGAR COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

CIGAR-BOX.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 570,534, dated November 3, 1896. Application filed May 8, 1896. I Serial No. 590,726. (No model.)

.To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY F. BENTE, a citizen of the United States, residing at St. Louis, State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cigar-Boxes, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof.

My invention has relation to improvements in display cigar-boxes; and it consists in the novel arrangement and combination of parts more fully set forth in the specification and pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of my improved box with the cover or lid removed. Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken through the locking-lugs carried by the walls of the box, and Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail showing one of the lugs in elevation.

The object of my invention is to construct a transparent cigar-box which will form a desirable substitute for the glass jars usually employed for temporarily keeping cigars moist, and which are generally closed by a screw-cap, requiring considerable time both to secure the same to the neck of the jar or to remove the same therefrom. The present box being provided with transparent rigid walls, preferably of glass suitably ornamented, subserves the same purpose as a jar, but being rectangular in form has the additional advantage in that the cigars may be packed therein in the usual way that they are packed in wooden boxes instead of being promiscuously inserted end first thereinto, as is the case with the glass jars referred to.

A further advantage of the present invention lies in the fact that the cover employed therein is such that it may be readily secured to or detached from the open end of the box, the specific construction of the securing devices for the cover being especially applicable to the present form of box.

The box, on account of its transparent character, commends itself as an advertising device.

In detail the invention may be described as follows:

Referring to the drawings, 1 represents a rectangular glass box, either square or oblong in shape, designed to receive the cigars. Along two opposite walls of the box and at a suitable distance from the upper edge thereof are formed integrally with the walls suitable wedge-shaped rigid lugs, having faces 2 inclined downwardly from the upper edges of the walls. The base 3 of each lug inclines upwardly toward the face 2, and the sides 4 of each lug also incline from the side walls of the box toward the face 2 of the lug, as'

of the lugs, and the sides of the opening slip v freely along the inclined sides 4 of the lugs, and after the several inclined surfaces have been passed the resilient sides of the cover fit snugly against the walls of the box. In this manner the cover fits snugly and close to the walls of the box, housing any moisture that might be contained in the box, preventing its escape, and thus keeping the cigars fresh for an indefinite period. To remove the cover, the sides thereof are distended beyond the projecting lugs by seizing the straps 8, carried by the sides of the cover in proximity to the openings formed therein. The cover rests on the ledge 9, usually formed in boxes adapted to receive a cover in the manner here shown.

By the present improvement the cover of the box can be readily removed at a moments notice without the necessity of unscrewing the same, as must be done in the glass jars referred to. In addition the present box being transparent possesses the same advantage as the jar, having the additional merit of bein g rectangular, thereby enabling the cigars to be packed in the prevailing manner as is usual in wooden boxes in which cigars are generally sold.

The walls of the box may be of any approved design, and in the form here presented 1 it forms a suitable advertising-package.

It is apparent, of course, that an opaque box would also be included within the spirit of my invention, so, also, a box made of other material besides glass.

It is obvious, of course, that the lugs might be carried by the cover or lid and the openings 7 cut in the walls of the box.

Having described my invention, what I claim is- 1. A display cigar-box comprising a trans parent box having rigid imperforate walls, suitable lugs formed integrally with the walls and disposed along the outer surfaces of two opposite walls at a suitable distance below the upper edge of said walls, a cover for the box having yielding sides adapted to be passed over the walls of the box, and suitable openings formed in the said sides of the cover through which the lugs carried by the walls are adapted to be passed and retain the cover in place, substantially as set forth.

2. A display cigar-box comprising a box having rigid imperforate walls, a continuous ledge disposed along the walls at a suitable distance below the upper edge of the box, suitable lugs formed integrally with the walls and disposed along the outer surfaces of the walls adjacent to the ledge and between said ledge and the upper edge of the box, a cover for the box having yielding sides adapted to be passed over the walls of the box, and suitable openings formed in the said yielding sides of the cover through which the lugs carmetallic cover having yielding sides adapted v to pass over the walls at the open end of the box, suitable triangular openings cut in the sides of the cover, said openings conforming approximately to the general form of the wedge-shaped lugs whereby the bases and sides of the openings can freely ride over the inclined faces and bases and sides of the lugs, and suitable straps carried by the sides of the cover adjacent to or in proximity to the openings cut in said sides, substantially as set forth.

4. In a display cigar-box, a suitable box, rigid lugs carried by the same having inclined faces, an inclined base for each face, and inclined sides meeting the face and base of each lug, and a cover for the box having suitable openings formed in the yielding sides thereof and cooperating with the lugs, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

HENRY F. BENTE. Witnesses ALFRED A. MATHEY, EMIL STAREK. 

